 Why I promote toxic chemicals on this show. Oh, this is going to be a good one today. Hi there, I'm Angela Brown and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question and I get to help you find an answer. Now today's show is brought to us by Savvy Cleaner Training. This is a training program that is designed to go at your own pace. We have two different sections. We have one for employers and one for employees. So if you are the employer, there's lots of behind the scenes stuff to help you manage and grow and scale your business. For the employees, there are things on how to clean and how to get certified. So check it out at SavvyCleaner.com. All right, on to today's show. I get asked this question a lot. Why do I promote toxic chemicals on my show? The answer is because they are available. You go down the grocery store, supermarket, and as you walk down the aisle, you're going to see lots of really fancy packaging. Some of the products that are on those shelves are really not very safe. And the reason that we bring them up and we have conversations about them is because I want you to be informed. I want you to be informed. There are lots of non-toxic products on the market that are also not safe, just because it's natural does not make it safe. Tobacco, for example, is natural, but it is not safe, right? It's not a cleaning product. And even on the label, there's a death warning, right? And yet people still smoke. So for the very same reasons, people are still going to use the products that are on the supermarket shelves, even though some of them may not be safe for use. And so when you go to a customer's house, and my market primarily are cleaning business owners, but this happens every day in every market in every city, everywhere. A house cleaner shows up at a consumer's home and the consumer says, Hey, I bought this new fangled whatever it is off the supermarket shelf, will you use it? And they give this cleaning solution to the house cleaner. Now, in a perfect world, the house cleaner would be familiar with the new products coming out, but that's not always the case. And sometimes they've not been trained on the products. Sometimes they have not pulled up the safety data sheets. Sometimes they don't know what is inside the chemicals and how to use it in a way that services the customer. Now, here's a really scary thought and I want to pay close attention to this. And this is one of the reasons we talk about toxic chemicals on this show. If a customer gives you a cleaning solution and says, please use this on my countertops, what does that mean? Are we talking about the granite countertops in the kitchen? Are we talking about the acrylic or the marble, the fake marble that's inside the bathrooms, which is the standard build or standard grade for homes? What are you talking about? Are you talking about an acrylic bathtub, something that's fiberglass, something that's stone? What are we talking about? Because surfaces are different. And if you use the wrong chemical on a particular surface, you can immediately void the warranty. And I know it's really scary and super expensive. It happens all day in every market. So when a customer says, hey, will you use my cleaning supplies? The first thing that should happen is red flags go up and you say, no, I can't today because I'm unfamiliar with this product and how I'm best supposed to use it inside your home. Then they have to go back to their office. They have to pull up the safety data sheets. Then they have to be trained on what surfaces they can and cannot use that product. Now, for example, I was at the ISSA show a week ago in Las Vegas, Nevada, and I walked on the show floor and there was a manufacturing company that had a new chemical I'd never seen. I've seen a lot of chemicals, but this is one I was unfamiliar with. And they said, hey, what do you think of our new product? And I had to stop and say it would be irresponsible for me to give you an opinion at this moment because I've never seen it. I have no idea what's inside it. I have no idea how to use it. And they're like, oh, you can use it on anything. No, you can't. All surfaces are not created equal. The pH in the chemicals is different based on what's inside and based on what the pH is, is going to determine what kind of gunk or grit or grime I'm going to be cleaning. So there are certain rules that go with the cleaning supplies. And it was a salesperson that was super enthusiastic and they just wanted a testimonial, but I honestly could not give one because I was unfamiliar with the product. And I said, would you be so kind as to give me a couple weeks? Let me do some research. Let me pull up the safety data sheets. I've got a team of people where we do experiments and we try these out and we do our own double-bind studies to make sure that the product is as advertised. Would you give me the courtesy of letting me do that first before I give you an endorsement? Because while it would be super fun to do that right here in the glamour of this big show, it would be super irresponsible for both of us, right? So the reason I promote toxic chemicals is not because I want you to use toxic chemicals, but I want you to be aware. Another product that is natural, but not safe for everything are pumice stones. Lots of house cleaners are like, oh yeah, just scrub it out with a pumice stone. A pumice stone is a stone. It's like sandpaper and it cannot be used on all surfaces. And so there are house cleaners that send their whole entire teams out with pumice stones because they're natural. And then I get comments back every day of damage, property damage where house cleaners have scraped and scrubbed off toothpaste off of those marble countertops that you scratch easily. And then they've scratched the countertops and they've ruined them. Now the house cleaning company has to pay for the repair of that or the replacement. Or they'll use them on glass stovetops where you can use a razor if it's wet and under certain specific circumstances, but instead they scratch them with the stones and then they scratch up the surfaces of the stovetops. And then the homeowner wants a new one because it doesn't look pretty anymore. I've seen homeowners call me and say, you know, my house cleaning person cleaned my stainless steel appliances with a pumice stone. Now somebody's got to replace the front of the stainless steel appliances. So there are things that are natural like pumice stones, but they are not to be used on shower glass doors and stove countertops. And if you use them on the inside of a toilet, there's a very specific way to do it. And I don't recommend pumice stones at all because the majority of house cleaners will use them on the wrong things. Here's the mentality. We say, wow, that works really well on this. Maybe it will work really well on this. And then they go rogue and they use it on surfaces that are not safe, right? It's also the same with cleaning products. They go, oh, this works really well. I'll use more of the same cleaning solution to do a better job. If you use more of a chemical, all it does is it wastes the chemical. It doesn't do a better job. And oftentimes it will make it more sudsy or more soapy or it will leave a film or something. And then they're like, oh, the product doesn't work. The product does work when used as intended from the manufacturer. And that's one of the things we promote on this show is that if you are going to use a chemical, I want you to know what it is. I want you to know what's inside. And I want you to be aware of the safety precautions in case there are some. Now, it's true, and we've had chemical manufacturers mad at me because I talk about safety data sheets and personal protective equipment. Again, my market are cleaning business owners. If you're a homeowner and you spray something in your bathroom and it's there for a few seconds and you wipe it away and you clean every couple of weeks or once a month, it's not a big deal. It's not going to hurt you. You probably don't need a face mask or eye goggles or even gloves. You're probably going to be okay. But when you talk about house cleaners that are inside people's homes and they're using chemicals for 8, 10, 12 hours a day, it's very, very important that you have your personal protective equipment and that you understand the safety data sheets and you understand how to be safe. There are lots of products on the market that I do recommend that I'm a huge fan of because of the power that they will cut through the grime and they will cut through the gunk. Most people don't have that kind of gunk on every cleaning. Once you've cleaned it, then you maintain it with a lesser chemical. And the solution is always choose the least amount of chemicals and the easiest way to do the job. So, sometimes you can use distilled water and a microfiber cloth. It will remove 99.9% of the contaminants. You don't need any cleaning solutions at all. So, it's not that I'm promoting cleaning chemicals just to make money. I'm promoting them because they're out there. Every household has them and you need to be aware of what they are and how to use them, especially if you have like an Airbnb, for example, and you're going to leave cleaning solutions for your guests to use. Don't be leaving them pumice stones. Don't be leaving them razor blades. Don't be leaving things that can scratch and damage your equipment because most people don't know how to use them properly, right? So, this show is about education. It is answering your questions and we're going to have a lot of uncomfortable questions as we go through time where we're talking about things like toxic chemicals and personal protective equipment and safety data sheets and all the things that you need in order to keep safe while you're cleaning. So, anyway, that's the roundup of why I promote toxic chemicals on this show. I hope it helps a little bit. I am taking questions. If you have questions about this, please leave your questions and comments in the notes below. If you found this helpful, please pass it on to a friend and if we've earned your subscription, please subscribe. Until we meet again, leave the world a cleaner place than when you found it.